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DATELINE March 30, 2015
BEARCAT AND “PROTECTION” FOLLOWUP. Soon we’ll have the Bearcat rolling into town…anybody heard of an expected date? What kind of welcoming party will our City Council create? Will we see Pamela Comstock with a crown of flowers riding in the top gun turret? More importantly since the biggest excuse for our having this monster is to protect our police. Who needs the protection???
From USA Today (2014) WASHINGTON — The number of felony suspects fatally shot by police last year — 461— was the most in two decades, according to a new FBI report.
The justifiable homicide count, contained in the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report, has become increasingly scrutinized in recent months as questions continue to be raised about the use of lethal force by law enforcement. From Wikipedia we have….For 2012, the Officer Down Memorial Page records 120 deaths in the line of duty.[4] The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund counted 127 federal, state and local officers to have been killed in 2012.
Check out any other sources of police killings and killings by police and as they say, “you do the math”.
| BACH & Jackson 5 |
SAFEWAY?? NOPE, ALBERTSONS!!!!. Now that private equity giant Cerberus Capital Management bought Safeway for over $9 billion a couple of weeks ago there’ll for sure be some changes. One of our local Safeway store admin assistants told me inside rumors have it that all the Safeway house labels will disappear. They are also having a tough time figuring what to do with the Safeway “Customer Cards” and charges and converting them to Albertsons.
3 HOTELS AND OUT OF TOWN PROFITS. Aside from never publicly discussing the vast amount of water these three new chain hotels that have been dumped on us will be using, we never hear much about just how much of all their profits will go out of town to their corporate headquarters. Where and what are all the advantages our sell-out city council and Board Of Supervisors keep promising and believing in???
| MICHELLE OBAMA & ELLEN DE GENERES DOING THE F-F-FUNK!!! |
NO P.G.& E.POWER LINES IN APTOS, CORRALITOS AND WATSONVILLE !!! The California Public Utilities Commission’s unanimous decision to dismiss PG&E’s application to construct the Santa Cruz 115 Kilovolt Reinforcement Project has thousands of folks very happy. NOPOC’s (NOPOC stands for Neighbors Organized to Protect Our Community) press release said…
P.U.C. Commissioners Vote to Dismiss Controversial Santa Cruz Project
After PG&E Agrees Project is Not Needed in Next 10 Years
APTOS, Calif. – In a victory for the environment, wildlife, ratepayers, and the quality of life in Santa Cruz County, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) dismissed PG&E’s application to construct the Santa Cruz 115 Kilovolt Reinforcement Project. In a public meeting held on March 26, 2015, CPUC President Michael Picker and four commissioners voted unanimously to grant PG&E’s motion to dismiss its application for a permit to construct the controversial power line project after PG&E and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), which oversees the statewide power grid, agreed that the project was not needed in the next 10 years.
The proposed project would have added a second 115,000 volt transmission line to a 7.1-mile circuit through portions of Aptos, Corralitos, and Watsonville. A new 1.7-mile transmission line would have been constructed through Day Valley. PG&E proposed to erect more than 80 steel power poles, double the height of many wooden poles, destroy hundreds of trees, build helicopter landing pads in an orchard and fields, and permanently remove all vegetation around the poles with herbicides. NOPOC has tentatively scheduled a community meeting at the Corralitos Grange Hall on April 28 at 7:00 p.m. to update community members on the status of this project and to discuss next steps.
THE ELECTRIC MAILBOX. Jason sent some photos of the newly exposed store front on Water Street where Staff of Life used to be. He asks gnarly questions such as…
- What is the name of the motorcycle shop that featured Bultaco motorcycles?
- What kind of things went on in The Ragged Edge Ltd.?
- Who jabbed the screwdriver in the tree (it is really stuck and grown over) across the street, and how long ago?
***Any and all answers will be greatly appreciated.
#1 SONG THE DAY YOU WERE BORN. This site plays the #1 song when you were born And when you were conceived….find any connection??? Ted Burke of Crows Nest and Shadowbrook fame sent it in. Go for it.
SO SANTA CRUZ GETS THEIR BEARCAT.
Not too surprisingly, the current Santa Cruz City Council ruled in favor of their police department and upheld their request for the Bearcat. That continues their being out of touch with the rest of the county. It never ceases to amaze me how Santa Cruz City leaders expect the rest of us to visit their shops, see their movies and “buy local”, but only seek opinions of city residents on issues like the Bearcat. Their Bearcat decision gives many of us a reason to avoid Santa Cruz, along with a list of other reasons. Like the demolition of the Cooper House, the Rittenhouse thing, Borders Books and the general trend of moving Pacific Avenue into shops to attract customers from over the hill. That Bearcat does nothing to improve the image of Santa Cruz; lets hope they never have a reason to use it anywhere in the County.
(Paul Elerick is co-chair with Peter Scott of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, http://sensibletransportation.org , and he’s a member of Nisene 2 Sea, a group of open space advocates).
| Shell vs. greenpeace |
| LEGO VS. SHELL AND THE ARCTIC |
| SWANTON ROAD RAILROAD. Paul Hostetter found this gem of our local connection to the Pan Pacific Exposition. I lived in the house in front of this train (see 18 minutes in) and watched the entire thing be built. |
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Once again Gary defines LAFCO. LAFCO is the “Local Agency Formation Commission.” New local agencies, before they are “formed”, must go through a review and approval process at LAFCO. When existing local agencies want to expand their territory, or to dissolve, or to merge, LAFCO is again involved. If a local agency that provides water or sewer service wants to extend its services beyond the boundaries previously existing (and that were probably approved by LAFCO), the agency must come to LAFCO and get LAFCO approval. Although there are some special cases throughout the state, where the rule is different, generally speaking each LAFCO has a membership of seven persons: two County Supervisors, two City Council Members, two representatives of Special Districts in the county, and one public member. He says about De-sal plants, “Desal proposals are often scaled to provide water for new land development proposals”.
IMPORTANT SYMPOSIUM…Gary describes a San Lorenzo river symposium, “Here is another “heads up” advisory that actually gives you time to put something on your calendar. On Saturday, April 11th, an all day symposium, focused on the “State of the San Lorenzo River,” is going to take place at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, located at 307 Church Street in Santa Cruz. It’s an all day affair, from 9:00 to 5:00, so bring a bag lunch!
John Laird will give the keynote speech. Mr. Laird is a former Mayor of the City of Santa Cruz, a former Assembly Member representing most of Santa Cruz County and parts of Monterey County in the State Legislature, and is currently serving as the Secretary for Natural Resources of the State of California. Besides that keynote speech, the day will be filled with presentations and discussion about the San Lorenzo River watershed, with a particular emphasis on fisheries and water quality. Presenters will include consulting biologist Don Alley, Greg Pepping of the Coastal Watershed Council, Anthony Guerriero from the United States Geological Survey,Jon Jankovitz, from the California State Department of Fish and Wildlife, Dr. Brian Spence from NMFS, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and Dr. Jerry Smith from San Jose State University. The Symposium is being hosted by the City of Santa Cruz, the County of Santa Cruz Fish and Game Advisory Commission, and the Coastal Watershed Council. I hope you will plan to attend! Read the complete scripts of the above at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse . Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmenatl issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own daily website, Two Worlds/365” – www.gapatton.net
CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo questions blood types and mixing of species see below.
EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. The political Eagan shares a view of Ted Cruz’s bid for the presidency scroll down…
NEW MUSIC…S’PACIFICALLY “PACIFIC PREMIERES”. New Music Works (now in its 36th year) presents “Pacific Premieres” with powerful new compositions by Jack Body (New Zealand) – Kick in the Arse, Hyo-shin Na (Korean-American) – Dark Study + Morning Study Margaret Brouwer (U.S.A.) – Skyriding and Casey Cangelosi (U.S.A.) – Theatric no 1.
At 7pm there’ll be a Composer – Performer Panel Discussion (free of charge). This Saturday, April 4th, 8pm at Cabrillo College Samper Recital Hall. Tickets at the door or at this link.
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Join me in a Bard-binge this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com), as I discover Kate Danley’s fantasy novel Queen Mab, a clever rewrite of Romeo and Juliet the way we wish it had all turned out. And speaking of twisted tales from Shakespeare, expect some surprises at this summer’s second season of Santa Cruz Shakespeare.” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.
THAT IS THE QUESTION
(IN ORDER OF PERFECTION)
IT FOLLOWS. It’s a scary movie about teen age sex. Lots of teen age skin and guilt and a mysterious “something” that follows you until you have sex then IT follows that person. Oddly enough it really is scary and it’s done well, but who needs it?
STILL PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR US
FROM BEST TO REALLY BAD
WILD TALES. Pedro Almodovar “produced” this Argentine film, whatever that means. It is a wonderful, tense, great collection of six unrelated-subtitled stories that will have you laughing, squirming, and praising the beauty of this absolutely great piece of cinema. Revenge, anger, accidental, all themes of our lives are carried to the extreme…plese see this film, (and I don’t say that often) but only if you really like good films.
CINDERELLA. This is a 100 % Disney movie, and I mean it in a good way. It’s the classic Disney from Snow White, Pinocchio, Beauty and The Beast and the old timey beautiful, heart-tugging, syrupy romance years. This is a live action spectacular, with Lily James who plays Lady Rose MacClare in Downtown Abbey as Cinderella and Cate Blanchett as the wicked stepmother. I loved it, but it does start very slowly.
McFARLAND, USA. This heart breaking-tearful movie is Disney at the best. Kevin Costner and Maria Bello head this solid trite hackneyed saga and yep, I cried too. It’s sort of like seven Rocky’s all in one film, as we watch the local Mexican kids in McFarland become state running champs. You can make up the plot, you’ve seen it many , many times. Yet because of the direction and Costner you’ll fall right into the pathos, cornball story.I forgot where Mc Farland is, I looked it up, route 99 goes right through the center of town, that’s why I even remembered being there…back in the day(or decade) It’s near Wasco, where I always get my gas when I drive to Victorville.
THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL.I left this movie angry, frustrated, and frustrated. Like most folks I expected a sequel with almost all the same stars that was at least half as cute, whimsical, and clever as the original. This slapped together- money grabbing movie is mean spirited, cliched, and poorly directed. The same geezer couples argue, lie, and cheat on each other, Dev Patel wheels and deals and argues, lies and cheats too. How anyone could have completely changed the spirit, charm and talent in the first Marigold Hotel to this contrivance is beyond me. To watch Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Richard Gere, and Bill Nighy become such small time humans is just degrading. Tell me if you see it and disagree.
DIVERGENT SERIES; INSURGENT. Unless you’ve read all three of thse teeny-bopper, sci-fi thrillers you won’t get much out of this part two. They could have named it Effulgent, Detergent, Emolument, Deterrent, or even best yet, Detriment…and it would have been more honest, and saved some unpuspecting movir goer an admission price!!
FOCUS. Will Smith tries hard to get back on top of the Hollywood star ladder but this clever and yet meaningless film goes absolutely nowhere. It’s about pickpocketing on a global level, and I’m not kidding. You are supposed to be fooled by who’s lying to which character but you really don’t care much. I dozed off many times and I was at the 10:50 am show!!!
RUN ALL NIGHT. Liam Neeson and Ed Harris lead the casting in this completely unnecessary bloody, violent, commercial reptition of all the other killing, murder, car-crashing, gunfire, corpse-filled, money making movie hits. Box office dynamite and stomach turning disgrace of a movie.
SONG OF THE SEA. Ireland’s Cartoon Studio also created The Secret of The Kells and I didn’t like it much either. It doesn’t compare to the Japanese Ghibli Studio’s classic works such as the current “The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya” or Pono, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Monoke or Spirited Away. The backgrounds in Song of the Sea are distracting, the music is too sweet or cute. The plot is cloying too. Plus, it lost the Oscar for animated feature to Big Hero 6.
CHAPPIE. Sci-Fi again and the future is controlled by a bunch of Robo-Cops. Hugh Jackman has an odd almost small part and Dev Patel plays an earnest but inneffectual jerk. The plot is awfully familiar, you’ll probably snore, so watch out for whomsoever is sitting next to you. Tons of violence, blood, and similar very popular themes…don’t go.
| UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE RADIO PROGRAM KZSC 88.1 FM or live online at www.KZSC.ORG TUESDAYS 7-8 P.M. |
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or sometimes old programs are archived… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. UCSC History Professor Matthew Lasar talks about the future of radio on March 31. Matthew is followed by Attorney Bill Parkin telling us about our environment and planning problems. Composer and winemaker Joseph Sekon talks about his music and about the Del Sol String Quartet appearing April 12 at 900 High Street. Joseph is followed by Carla Brennan talking about Mindfulness and meditation. On April 14 actress and playwright Kate Hawley talks about “Complications From A Fall” her newest play opening at the Jewel on April 23. Then Jeffrey Smedburg reports on the Reel Work Labor Film Festival. County Supervisor John Leopold co-hosts our KZSC #1 Pledge Drive night on April 21. Historian, author Sandy Lydon co-hosts KZSC #2 Pledge Drive night on April 28. Miriam Ellis guests on May 5 to talk about this years International Playhouse at UCSC. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The update includes Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson-Darrow, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011. Hear them all!!!
QUOTES. “There’s only two people in your life you should lie to… the police and your girlfriend”, Jack Nicholson. “The police must obey the law while enforcing the law”, Earl Warren. “Most middle-class whites have no idea what it feels like to be subjected to police who are routinely suspicious, rude, belligerent, and brutal,” Benjamin Spock.
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BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.
